So I may have lied a tiny bit in my last post…yes I WAS rushing to book our venue…but long before that search began I had one of our vendors pretty much decided on…our photographer.

I’ve inserted lots of lovely eye candy from Khara’s blog throughout this post…so if you could really care less about my blabbing feel free to scroll through the ugly black lines of text and just check out the pics :)

Back before any wedding talk began…I sorta just assumed that all wedding photography consisted of stuffy posed pics with awkward faces…you know like those pics where all the groomsmen with these giant fake grins surround the bride who is showing off her garter…usually taking place at the front of the church?!?…yeah that’s a framer… um no thanks…not gonna waste my money on that.

So you can imagine I was quite surprised when the internets introduced me to the land of modern wedding photography…and even more so when I stumbled upon the blog of our photographer. I mean sure awesome photography isn’t hard to come by in LA, NY, So Cal, etc, where you have hundreds of options…but Nebraska…yeah right.

Well after going through Khara’s blog from beginning to end (hitting “previous post” until there were no more “previous post”s to hit) I was sold. Now according to every single book or magazine or blog post out there about “How to Choose Your Photographer” I broke several rules.

1) I didn’t have a solid date yet.

2) In fact we weren’t even technically engaged when I decided she was “the one”

3) I didn’t search any other photography sites

4) I didn’t do a “meet and greet” interview thing

5) I didn’t get any “references” from past clients…minus what was posted on her website

…ok you can quit gasping now. Its not like I forked over a deposit without actually making contact with the lady!! I think it was probably less than a week after getting engaged that I finally emailed her…and I don’t think I said much except that I loved her pics and wanted to post some on my blog…which I had JUST started. I didn’t really expect a response at all but she did respond…and it was fast…and her email was so nice! Not long after that I emailed her again about her availability, prices, and just some general wedding photography related questions…and once again I got a super quick response with an email chalk full of info! I could just tell from her emails that she was an outgoing, upbeat and just all around a “fun” person…just the type of person I can feel relaxed and “like me” around…which is what you ultimately want portrayed in your pictures right?? Once again…Sold!

Our budget is not huge…and thus our allotted amount for photography is definitely not huge…but after seeing all the beautiful wedding pictures out there and the not-so-great ones too…I decided to make photography my splurge. I was willing to go less in some departments in order to have pictures we would treasure forever…and hang all over our (future) house…haha. Lance was not so quick to get on board..I had all but put the deposit down when I finally presented the info to him. (yes I know…not smart) But he knows me all too well…as he likes to say “Are you really looking for my opinion…or do you just want my approval?”…yeah ok…approval :)

So far booking our photographer has been the easiest decision for me to make…I tend to be indecisive on things…but ultimately when I know what I want…I know what I want. (this comes into play with our rehearsal dinner venue as well…) I know that our pictures will turn out absolutely fantastic…so thats one less thing to stress about! Although I haven’t met Khara in person yet (we will in Sept for our “Love Shoot”) I’m not worried what-so-ever.

Congrats on finding your photographer!! The picture of the bridesmaid doing the bride’s hair is just beautiful. I love the play of light and shadow in it!
I’ll be posting about it soon, but our big wedding splurge is photography too, and I know we made the right decision.

I feel like I wrote this post because what you wrote is EXACTLY how we got our photographer too! Well, except I actually contacted our photographer before we were engaged and I did look into a couple other photographers but…still, it’s our splurge and I was AMAZED at what was out in the wedding photography world when I actually started looking!! Congratulations on finding your photographer, it’s so nice to be excited about a vendor, right??

Steph- I have had the pleasure of working with Khara on several prjects and she is absolutely fantastic. She has an energy that shines through all of her work. As for splurging on wedding photos I wish I would have! I look back at mine and wonder “where was all the magic from that day?”

After being a fan of Khara’s for over a year now and stalking her blog of beautiful photographs, I can say, you chose the right girl for the job! She’s amazing and no, I haven’t ‘met’ her either. :) If I was getting married ever again, she’d be my splurge too!